Welcome BB! I have a friend on Prednisone for asthma too - it makes it harder to lose BUT you can lose (she is too) Wow you would have loved the old WW diets - that was exactly what they did and there were not nearly the choices they have now. The only problem I have with the rigid diets (and menus can be found in most Women's magazines) is that they tell you to eat for example 4 ounces of salmon for lunch and a half cup of green beans. OK so where does the rest of the salmon go? Do you toss the other green beans? There are no salmon or green beans mentioned for the rest of the week. So my suggestion (and it is worth what you paid for it) is to make a list of the foods you want to eat and would fit the plan you want to be on. For example - breakfast for me is cereal OR a Weight Watchers bagel with ff butter. That is what I like and eggs don't make me feel full. You might be different. Snack is an apple or pear. Something I can come in and eat on the run when hunger hits - high fiber. Lunch will be a lean protein with a low starch veggie. If I get snacky in the afternoon I'll grab some carrots or another pear. That leaves a lot of room for a nice evening meal (low on starches and always a steamed veggie) or a leaner meal and a trip to McDonald's for a cone or hot fudge sundae. If I go out for lunch or supper I choose something in the 300 calorie range and it does not take long to learn what you can eat. Evening snack is frozen fruit. A whole bag is usually about 150 calories and I don't eat the whole bag. This works for me for now. It might not be a diet you would like but your diet is out there. Hi gang! Well I had spaghetti wars yesterday. Made it for supper and long after I had my bowl it started singing to me so I popped it in a bag and froze it. Today there are Snickers bars and cookies leftover from a teen class (only 3 showed up - sunny day). They are getting bagged and taken to the basement. Every day is another battle. We are having a false summer here and I want to plant my stuff outside so badly! But I won't - not until after mother's day and that is taking a chance. We have had late frosts many times before. I went to a used booksale yesterday along with 351 other people in line. It was huge and I bought a lot of gardening books. I checked out the diet books too but nothing jumped up. Spent my $20 (all I allowed myself to take) and got out of there. There were people buying hundreds of dollars worth of books. Most were $3. I found a stack of Country living gardening mags from the 90s for $1. Lots of good ideas there. Well must go start the day - stay strong everybody (and especially) Kathy

Good Morning. Besh - sorry about your friend. I had an immediate member of my family attempt suicide and it was a very traumatic experience. I can relate to your friend and his family. Very deep issues. Suzanne - Your night out to the theatre and dinner sounds like my kind of night. Where is BJ, I haven't read a post from her. I pretty much caught up from my mia months. QOD: We will have a low key Thanksgiving. My DH's mother and sister are visiting us now since Wednesday and they leave the day prior to Thanksgiving, so we have been having special dinners and going out to eat quite a bit. So I may just make soup and salad for Thanksgiving dinner -- hahahahhahaha. I made a turkey breast yesterday and it was YUMMERS. I hear them in the kitchen now making a italian cookie/biscuit my MIL used to make my husband when he was younger. Oh such happiness -- brings a tear to my eye. GMWAS (Gag me with a spoon). (wink wink) I know my DH is enjoying every minute of it. We drove to he east coast of Florida on thursday and went to a Bloomingdales. I love it. We do not have any here on the west coast(at least that I know of). So my husband bought me a Dooney and Burke purse (which he did a year ago this time when they came down for a visit) So you can bet your bottom dollar that I am hoping this is a yearly thing. Patti - my parents also celebrated their 50th anniversary last month. My husband and I threw them a party at a party center in Ohio (where I am from)and had 130 people there with a band. It was quite a challenge organizing it from Florida. Plus my mom gave her input too.....so... I took a lot of deep breaths and went forward the entire time. I had a blast. A good time was had by all and it was worth all the effort and aggravation just to see how happy it made my parents. We even had my cousin who is an Catholic Deacon renew their vows. Not a dry eye in the joint at that point. Man this is a long post. I better save some for tomorrow. Take care everyone..... Lynn

congratulations, Stacy, and enjoy your anniversary. It was worth it all, wasn't it? The storm, the hives, the hospital, everything... Elery will be here tonight, so I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow. The oven repairman just came and fixed the oven but I can happily say that I know how to bake brownies in an electric roaster and it works very well. (grin) Sunday is the farm, I'll have to check on stepmom. She was in the hospital and they put her on dialysis treatments for 6 weeks, then they'll take her off and see if her kidneys will work better after a "rest". Anyway, I called the hospital (she can't call out, long distance) and got no answer Wednesday night. I called Thursday, and got a stranger who said they'd been in that room since morning. I called the farm and found the phone had been disconnected, so I'm assuming my sister didn't pay the bill. So, I figure if anything serious was happening, someone would call me, otherwise, I'll see 'em all on Sunday! Annie

Yay! Pictures! I'm so thrilled with your blocks! They are all so beautiful, and such great fabrics. I also enjoyed the wonderful, cute cards; bookmark from Caroline; postcards from Norway(!). I plan to make more blocks, to make a bigger quilt top. Top row: Anjea, lockeb, caroline1947 2nd row: judy333, juttz, mseldoo 3rd row: lappemor, dian57, freekie Bottom row: MacBeaner, faytay, me This is how I used the extra "tips" from caroline1947 and Jennyrae. Again, thank you, thank you! Cheryl